Sculpting and Texturing

Before texturing, we assembled the main body of the set build; the archway. This was to make sure it fitted together so far, so any changes to the shape could be sculpted from the foam before the texture was applied over it. The texture dries very hard, so making changes prior to its application was ideal. The advantage of having a texture that dries very hard is that its also fairly impenetrable, and seeing as this piece will be in public use, having that coat protecting the soft polystyrene is really useful. At this point I had also assisted in the sculpting of the polystyrene, so it was beginning to resemble a rocky surface.

Once happy with the construction of the archway, it was taken apart into three separate sections again in order to be textured. As the Styroputz is quite a heavy texture, both when it's wet and dry, it's easier to apply when the polystyrene pieces are flat, else it begin to fall off. This is both inefficient and a waste of materials so deconstructing the archway was the most logical solution.